Are Phones a Gateway to Larger-format E-readers?

In today’s featured story, we reported on the untapped potential of the mobile phone market for selling e-books. Mobile is clearly the world’s most widely used and adopted platform, and one has to wonder why books don’t play a larger role in the mobile market. As Andrew Bud of the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) said, the disparity is “nuts.”

But is it really so strange?

Would anyone who already owns a Kindle or a Kobo, an iPad or a Nexus 7, ever really choose to read something on their smartphone over their larger tablet or dedicated e-reader?

Well, that likely depends on the content in question. You’d probably be just as fine reading an email on your phone as you would reading an email on your tablet. But would you choose to read an illustrated book, for example, on your phone over your tablet?

Circumstances also factor into the question. If you’re constantly on the go or you have to travel light, reading that new thriller on your phone might be a great choice. But if you can bring your tablet or e-reader with you, why would you leave it in favor of the phone?

It begs the question: are books-on-phones only for those who don’t already have an e-reader?

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Publishing Perspectives is an online magazine of international book publishing news and opinion. Our global network of publishing experts and reporters provide on-the-ground info and analysis from those on the cutting edge of digital, global, and self-publishing.